


Awakening

by urisarang



Series: Rebirth [1]
Category: Logan (2017) - Fandom, Logan (Marvel) - Fandom, X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Fix-It, Gen, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Mutants not extinct just really really rare, The Power of Homegrown unprocessed foods, Time Travel, new powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-05 02:25:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11004039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urisarang/pseuds/urisarang
Summary: Fix it for the Munsons, because seriously no...that was not okay.  Nate POV, follows movie religiously until it doesn't.Nate Munson was not the average kid at his high school, he did rodeos, worked on a damn old school farm, wasn't allowed near processed foods...or heaven forbid a soda pop.  Didn't help matters that his father was ostracized from the community for being the last hold out against big bad corn that basically owned their small town.Life wasn't easy for him and he used to be so bored wishing for adventure, but when four strangers enters his life and he makes a discovery about himself he would begin an adventure way more dangerous then he could have imagined.





	1. Chapter 1

Nate was listening to his jams on the way back home like they always do after taking their horses out for a check up at the nearest vet. Always the same old routines so Nate couldn't help but feel weighed down by the monotony of it.

He always felt like he was meant for more than being a farmer's son living in the ass crack of no where having to let his dad live vicariously through him with all the "cowboy sports" he has to do. His mind wandered off in dreams of "what ifs" and "Maybe some days" of being far away from the endless fields of corn that always surrounded him. What he wouldn't give for a change of scenery, a new life outside of grueling farm work that barely let them scrape by. Mom always talked about a vacation, a road trip...but its always "later" and later seems to be slipping into never.

Nate was torn out of his thoughts by his mother's startled shout. In front of them a truck got ran off the road by one of those damn auto-trucks. Another one moved into their lane hitting the drivers side front end knocking them off the road as well. Nate flung him self backwards away from the window as they flew off into the roadside ditch.

Nate and his family watched white knuckled as the truck that was in front of them careened across the road into on coming traffic. The driver barely dodging between more if those auto-trucks.

'This shit is like an action movie!' Nate thought in stunned awe as he watched the driver of the other truck spun around narrowly missing an auto-truck that was coming straight at them. They skid to a stop right along the side of the road.

The next second Nate heard the click of the trailer gate snap open. 'Shit' He thought as he unhooked his seat belt and jumped out of their truck, his dad close on his tail. Neither were fast enough and their horses have already ran out of the open trailer.

"Come on we gotta get them quick!" His dad yelled. "Try and get ahead of them, cut them off before they get far into the road."

"I'm going!" Nate yelled back as he ran to obey.

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" All three of the Munsons were chanting to try and calm their horses.

Nate made a grab for Simon, their white stallion, as he ran across the road. He barely made the grab and casted a quick glance back to at his dad. He has gotten a hold of Jess, but Finn and Abby are too far ahead running back and forth across the road in a panic.

Nate warily watched the truck who was part of their misadventure drive across all four lanes of traffic to stop next to his parents' trailer. Nate was struggling to calm down Simon when the horse relaxed completely and stopped fighting him. Nate wasted no time and jumped on his back.

Nate watched atop Simon as Abby and Finn calmly turned as one and walked back to the trailer and lined up with Jess. Nate was dumbstruck at their sudden change in behavior and stupidly sat atop his horse until his mom motioned him over snapping him out of it.

He guided Simon over to the other horses that were just standing there staring at the old man sitting in the back of the stranger's truck. His mom, dad and him all shared a look of wonder and confusion for a moment before Nate begins guiding their now docile horses back into the trailer. His mom was starting up the truck when the driver of the truck, a big older man, walked over.

"Hey, uh, you need a hand?" The man's gruff voice carried over. Nate gets the horses settled and moved to the side of the truck to help push it out of the ditch. The stranger and his dad were at the front of the car to push.

"Ready...go!" His dad yelled out and they pushed in tandem while his mom steered. "Alright good! Got it!" His dad smacked the hood of the truck in joy after they get it back on the road.

"Thanks so much for your help. I'm Kathryn." His mom said extending her hand to the helpful stranger.

"James." He replied giving her hand a gentle shake.

"This is my son Nate." Nate did a little awkward wave, still a little off balance from the strange turn of what should have been another boring day in Boringsville. "Hi."

Luckily his mom recovered fast and returned to her normal social self.

"That your daughter?" She asked motioning to the young girl who had climbed up on the tire well on the trailer to look at the horses.

"Yeah, uh...That's Laura, and that's my Dad." The man said gesturing to the old man who enthusiastically waved at them with his face scrunched up from squinting. "Come on Laura, let's go." The little girl hopped down off the trailer with a frown on her face.

"Well can we show our appreciation and treat the three of you to a decent meal? We don't live far from here." His mom asked before they can turn to leave.

"Uh, no thank--" He gets cut off by his father yelling out the window.

"THAT WOULD BE LOVELY." Followed by a little wave. Nate could see the long suffering look on the guy's face at his dad's acceptance of his mom's offer. Nate could totally get that--Neither he nor his dad were half as social as his mom but they end up getting roped into stuff more often than not. The guy nodded with a quiet sigh.

"Ya'll can just follow us back to our place." His mom pretended to not notice the guy's reluctance. Nate's dad just shrugged at the other guy with the universal "what can you do" look and gets into the truck.

Nate watched the man huff a bit getting his reluctant daughter back in their truck. He could see the old man give her a wink when James wasn't looking making a small smile form on the girl's face.

They were driving down the road in a heavy silence for a few minutes until Nate couldn't take it anymore.

"So...are we not gonna talk about how weird all that was?" He asked and was met with uncomfortable silence. "I mean..first we get ran off the road and them somehow all our horses magically calm down from a panic once those people pull over? That's weird, never seen the horses calm down so fast and act like that."

His mom and dad shared a look, talking without a sound, that always annoyed Nate to be left out. "Well honey, sometimes life works in mysterious ways. Maybe god is giving us back a little good fortune." She smiled with a slight tint of sadness. " Lord knows we could use it." Her tone of voice said the discussion was tabled and Nate has learned well and good by then to just drop it when she uses that tone. Nate let it go with a nod and shrug and the rest of the drive home went by peacefully.

They pulled in followed by their dinner guests. Nate made himself busy putting the horses out back in the barn. The young girl, Laura, silently watched him work with a very attentive look. 'Probably a city girl who has never seen real, live horses up close and is curious.' Her T-shirt with a horse on it didn't escape his notice. She didn't breathe a word or make a sound the entire time she tracked him and the horses with her eyes as they moved about.

When Nate only had Simon left to put out back he hesitated. 'Wonder if she has ever gotten the chance to pet one.' He casted a look over at her and the needy look on her face made the decision for him.

"Hey, uh, Laura." He said and her eyes flew back to him, gaze intense and searching. "You wanna pet him?" She looked back and forth between him and Simon unsure. "Simon is a real sweetheart, he loves to meet new people. So uh, you don't gotta worry."

Laura slowly walked over, eyes still darting between them but with a hint of excitement. Nate pulled Simon's reigns down so his head was lower for Laura to be able to reach easier. Nate gently scratched along Simon's nose with his free hand. "See, scratch him right here and he'll be your best friend in no time at all." Laura reached up slowly and just barely ghosted her finger tips against Simon's hair. Simon wasn't shy and leaned forward pressing his head into her hand. Its wasn't long before she was using both hands to pet his face.

"See what I tell ya?" Nate smiled down at her. "You're already her new favorite." Laura looked up at him with a small cautious smile that quickly bloomed into a real grin when Simon huffed seemingly in agreement nosing her hand.

"'Dang she's a cute kid when she smiles' Nate thought to himself. He was worried before cause she seemed too serious for a girl her age, but guess maybe she is just shy. "Wanna feed him an apple before we put him back for the night?" He asked and she nodded rapidly. 'Weird she doesn't talk though..'

He grabbed an apple and gave it to her. She giggled when Simon enthusiastically ate from her hands. 'Seems okay though' After Simon had finished eating Nate took him back to the barn. "Alright let's get inside, don't want your dad to worry." He said and the smile just dies off her face and morphs into something else he couldn't even guess at. "Gotta go help mom with dinner or she'll tan my hide." He joked trying to get her to smile, but she barely acknowledged it as they go inside his home.

Nate made his way to the kitchen and left Laura with her grandfather. His mom was cooking the steaks so he got on to peeling the potatoes. "You two were out there quite a while." She remarked as they work side by side casting him a glance. Nate shrugged and looked down at his potato.

"Yeah well...she really seemed interested in the horses. Don't think she's ever seen them up close before, city girl, you know?" He said and his mom hummed in agreement. "So you know, I thought it'd be nice to let her pet Simon since he's so calm...and well she is so quiet and shy.." He mumbled a bit when he sees his mom smiling at him like he did something amazing when really he was just being polite.

"How'd she like Simon?" She asked.

"Oh, she loved him." He said, "Hadn't seen her smile before, but the look on her face when he ate out of her hand was great." He smiled to himself at the memory while cutting up his potato. "She never said a word, but I think she is just shy."

"She might just be like her father." His mom said, "Barely strung three words together since we met him. Really quiet and reserved." She laughed a bit, "The grand father, though, is a real charmer and has lots to say." She paused with a fond look on her face. "They seem like a nice family, if not a little troubled--but what family ain't?" She finished good naturedly.

They finished with making dinner in companionable silence like they always did, except for the double portions and actually using their full dinning table set for once. His mom left to gather up Dad and their guests while Nate set the table. Dad took his place at the head of the table with James across from him. Nate sat between his mom and dad with the grandfather across from him, and Laura across from his mom.

"Say grace." His mom asked him like always but Nate had little butterflies in his stomach with the added pressure of three strangers at the table.

"Uh, thank you. God. for this food. And uh, for our new friends the Howletts."

"They came to our air." His mother added and they all say Amen.

His dad passed the corn to the grandfather Chuck who kindly thanked him with perfect manners, a stark contrast when watching Laura stuffing her face and eating with her hands until her father gestured at her with the fork without a word. 'Guess they are just quiet types.' Nate thought to himself a little relieved at the thought that maybe Laura is just naturally quiet and not that something is wrong with her.

Then, of course after Nate thought that, Laura started shoveling huge spoonfuls of corn onto her plate until her father took it away earning a hateful glare from his daughter.

*Awkward* "Well there's plenty more if she wants." Nate's mom said but the dad says she's fine. Laura just started eating like she's starving while glaring in between bites at her father. Her grandfather tried to cover their awkward behavior by commenting on how delicious the food was.

"Where Ya'll headed?" Nate's dad asked, starting up polite small talk.

"Oregon" " Uh South Dakota" Both James and his father answered at the same time. They both floundered for a second before the grandfather elaborated. "Oregon and then South Dakota."

"Vacation." His mom said not missing a beat.

"Yeah a vacation long overdue." The grandfather said. "We city folk always wanted to do a road trip, see the country, and meet the people in it." He gestured to us with a smile.

"That sounds lovely. Been tryin' to get Will here to take a vacation for years now." His dad huffed slightly at the long standing argument.

"Oh. If we go taipsing all over the country, who's gonna take care of this place?"

"Exactly." His mom cut in. "I say let it go."

"And live off of what?" 'oh god' Nate thinks, 'this again and in front of guests'

"The lord will provide." Nate couldn't hold back the smile, but managed not to laugh at his parents' oldest argument.

"I'm still waiting for the lord to provide me with a new thresher." Dad joked and Nate couldnt help but laugh.

"All the same I would love to travel someday." His mom said wistfully.

"And I'll bet you will." Grandpa Chuck said.

Nate couldn't help himself from adding, "I could drop out of school."

"Okay let's not go that far." His mom pointed at him.

"I mean I'll do it."

"No, no." His mom was shaking her head trying to stop him before he started.

"Why now?" Nate said only half joking. "You wanna travel, I wanna travel."

"That sounds good to you right?" His dad asked.

"This is the perfect plan." Nate continued on.

"Now why would you want to do that Nate?" Grandpa Chuck asked with a serious expression.

"Careful now, you're talking to uh, man who ran a school...for a lot of years. Right Charles?" James said earning a dismissive wave from the old man.

"Well...yes" The old man stammered, "It was a...kind of a special needs school. Um..." He trailed off.

James smiled slightly. "Uh huh that's a good description."

"He was there too." The old man said with a smile.

"Uh huh yeah I got kicked out a few times." Nate didn't even try to hold back his laughter at their banter.

"I wish I could say you were a good pupil, but the words would choke me." Nate's mom joined in laughing, Laura cracked a big smile looking around the table and even James grinned with a little laugh that he tried to hide by taking another bite of steak. Its obvious he wasn't used to unwinding and having a laugh and was self conscious but still having a good time.

Nate was surprised to find he really likes these three 'Good Samaritan' strangers so much. Its not like they ever got many house guests living way out in the middle of endless corn fields, but this was nice. Didn't hurt that he knows his mom was loving the opportunity to show some real hospitality when she so rarely got the chance.

Nate was always really friendly at school but with how far away they live he never got to bring friends home much. Didn't help that his dad is 'on the shit list' for most his friends' parents either. If Nate was being honest with himself he was a little jealous of the normal-ness he missed out on but he wouldn't trade his family for the world.

They finished eating and Nate and his mom started cleaning up when James stood.

"Ma'am, I really can't thank you enough for this. Really its great." He said earnestly, "But we have a long drive ahead of us so..."

"But you need to rest don't you?" His mom said concerned eyes flicking to the window to the sun that was fast fading into night. She always liked caring for people and the weary, tiredness was plain to see on Laura's and Chuck's faces.

"Yeah, we'll find a motel somewhere." James said grabbing his coat off the back of his chair.

"The nearest one is two hours from here and it ain't even that nice." Nate's dad said backing up his wife.

"We have a perfectly fine room upstairs for your father and daughter. and you can sleep in the living room on the convertible, its easy." His mom added tag teaming with her husband trying to get them to stay.

"That's very nice of you, but we really should go." James said dodging their offer.

"Logan, we can leave early in the morning." His father interjected. "Break of dawn as it were." Laura fidgetsled looking between the two as they stared each other down in a battle of wills.

"Well...okay why don't we wash up pop?" James(or is it Logan, Nate wondered at the second time they've called each other other names) relented and took his father towards the restroom leaving his daughter Laura at the table.

"Um Sweetie, you want some dessert?" Nate's mom asked voice tinged with hopefulness. Nate knows his mom always wanted a little sister for him, but unfortunately after she had him the doctors told her she couldn't have anymore. So it was no surprise to see her fawning over Laura as she got her a slice of home backed apple pie.

The tale tale groan of the water pipes shutting off made Laura jump a bit as she went from relaxed to ready to bolt in a split second. The change was drastic and a bit heart wrenching to watch. No kid should be so easily scared Nate thought.

"Ah shit!" Nate's dad said as he comes back in the house, screen door slapping shut behind him.

"What's going on?" James asked quickly coming out of the bathroom.

"Nate! Go fill up the tub before we lose pressure." His dad routinely commanded ignoring Jame's question. "Honey go check the sink."

"They shut it off again." She said softly.

"They are just not gonna let this thing go." His dad said leaning heavily on the kitchen counter.

"Then you might as well handle it now."

"Can't it wait til morning?" His dad begged in a hushed voice, "We just had rain last night."

Nate returned from filling the tub with what little water was left to see their house guests were standing(and sitting respectively) in the living room watching the exchange between his parents with confused and concerned expressions.

His dad looked over at them and let out a deep sigh. "The pump station that supplies us is a mile and half from here." He said softly, full of shame in front of his guests. "Sometimes it gets itself shut off."

"By Assholes." Nate threw in pissed off that they have to deal with this shit.

Laura was not so sneakily trying to get more pie while the adults were distracted but her father told her no and had to drag her away from it by her arm.

"My son is happy to go with you." James' father suggested.

"No, no, no, that's fine." Nate's dad declined. "The men that do this, sometimes they can be..." He trailed off.

"I can go." Nate said quickly eager for a small break from his nightly routine.

"No, you have homework." His mom shot him down.

"I'll go. Just uh, let me get my dad settled." James said before kneeling down and picking up his dad out from his wheel chair as if he weighed nothing then caring him up the stairs.

Something just didn't sit right with Nate about this. He felt like James shouldn't go with his dad but he didn't know why. Its not like he thought James would do something bad to his dad, he seemed like a good guy if a little gruff.

Nate let it go with a small sigh, he knew better than to try and argue when the decision has already been made, and he really did have math homework. He went upstairs to his room, and grabbed his iPod and homework.

Nate left the volume low just in case...in case of what he didn't know but with how the day had gone he wouldn't be surprised if something else weird happened. He was only working on his homework for a few minutes before he heard light footsteps approaching from behind. Pulling out an earbud he sat up and turned around to see Laura walk into his room. He waited a beat but she simply stood there with a blank look so he turned back around to keep working. He goes to replace his earbud but stopped when she walked deeper into his room towards his trophies.

"Those are for break away roping." He pointed to the walls. "Those are for barrel racing..and this right here is for pole bending." He told her not expecting a reply at this point. "They're all second, third place. I'm not so good at it but my dad makes me." It came out more bitter than he meant to, but he couldn't seem to help being more open with Laura. She didn't talk back and didn't seem to judge, still he felt a little awkward at the outburst and puts his earbud back in and made a point of looking at his homework so he didn't have to make eye contact.

Obviously, this girl didn't get normal social queues and instead of leaving she stepped closer and leaned all the way over him. She was so close her hair brushed his shoulder and her face was only inches away from his. 'What the hell is she doing?' He panicked a little bit at the surprise proximity, before he noticed she had her head cocked to the side towards the earbud in his ear.

He pulled out the other bud and hands it to her. "Do you want to listen?" She gingerly took it from his hand and puts it in her ear, face scrunching up in concentration before relaxing.

"Do you like it?" He asked a bit surprised since its not mainstream music, but she nodded seriously like it was something important. "Well, um, here you can take it for tonight..." He took out the other earbud and handed her his iPod. "and I'll get it back from you in the morning." Nate gets out of his chair and walked over to the bathroom needing some space. It was just too weird having her loom over him in silence.

He fussed with brushing his teeth killing some time hoping she'll have gone back to her room with her grandpa. Its not that he didn't like her, but something just seemed...off and dark about her and he was just a kid in high school and not up to dealing with...what ever that is. He finished up and goes back to his empty room and felt a little bad about running away from a little girl.

'Shit she is probably just lonely...they never did mention why there isn't a mom around.' Nate scrubed a hand over his face as he lied on his back in bed. 'Man, mom would hand me my ass to see me acting so poorly.' Nate sighed and rolled on to his side to stare at his wall and resolved to make it up to her some how in the morning. 'Maybe she'd like to play with Simon a bit before they have to leave.' He lied awake thinking for some time when a loud shout startled him.

'Laura' He thought bolting fully awake. Her screams grew in intensity and he could hear crashing and shattering sounds coming from their room. Before he knew it he ran into the guest bedroom but freezered in the doorway and time seemed to slow down.

A thin strip of light from the hallway highlighted a dark red stain of...blood that had spread across his chest. The old man's hands were shaking and his breath was ragged and failing. Nate tore his gaze away to see a large man with a buzz cut, who could have been James's much younger twin, hurl Laura to the ground.

The man's eyes were cold, empty and it chilled Nate's blood to ice. The man took one menacing step towards Nate before Nate swung around his baseball bat with every ounce of his strength and anger into the man's head aiming to kill. The man's head swung with the force of the blow, but he didn't fall. The hit barely phased him, not even a stumble from the mighty blow dealt.

Fear gripped Nate as the man slowly turned his head back to look at him after the hit. It was like a scene from Terminator--emotionless eyes stared back at him, and the-the thing's skin knit back together in front of his eyes. Nate's pupils dilated and time slowed to a crawl as he saw the man/thing raises it's fist towards him. Blood coated claws glistened in the low light.

Nate felt a scream start to build full force in his chest and he knew what was coming next. His vision flashed white for but a moment then time was rewinding back and farther back before the screams, before running from Laura.

Morbidly detached he thought 'This is it. This is my life flashing before my eyes' But its rewound to the very end of dinner, stopped, then started going forward again in real time. Nate clenched his fist and felt the pain of his nails digging into his palm and knew that he was still--somehow--alive!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate found himself with a second chance, but no idea what to do with it. Hell, he couldn't even begin to rationalize the events of the day, but he knew he had to change things...the alternative was unthinkable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UHG I did some edits fixing tenses, and some typos...somehow managed to delete the last 10 paragraphs of the story.  
> Sorry if you read it before I noticed and fixed it. ><'

Nate opened his mouth but a scream tore out of his throat instead of words shocked everyone at the table. His mom grabbed him at the same time that his dad and James shoved their chairs back in their haste to get to their feet.

"What's wrong?!" "Are you okay?" "What's going on?" Chorused around him but fell on his death ears. Nate screamed until his breath ran out and he could do no more than hold onto his mom as he shook from his ordeal.

There was a flurry of words flying all around him, but it was nothing more than white noise. His mind was stuck playing and replaying the horrible scene of blood drenched claws coming at him.

The sounds slowly faded around him, his breathing slowed, and his heart beat calmed to normal as the feeling of serene calm fell over him like a warm blanket during a winter storm. Nate opened his eyes not realizing they had closed at some point. He looked over to see Chuck looking at him intently, a hand to the side of his head.

'It's going to be okay' Chuck's voice rang inside his head, but his lips never moved.

"You..." Nate's voice broke in a ragged whisper from all his screaming. He coughed to clear his throat, all eyes on him. "It was you who calmed the ho-horses down wasn't it?" He asked and Chuck nodded with a barely there smile. "How...?" Nate asked but his question was drowned out in his dad's bellow for answers.

"What the hell is going on here?!" The rare sound of rage filled his dad's voice.

The Howletts as one call cast quick guilty looks towards each other. The girl looked ready to bolt with eye darting all around the room. James's shoulders tensed, the veins bulged in his forearms from how tightly clenched his fists were held. The old man looked like he aged a 100 years in a second, his ancient eyes were filled with sadness and regret.

Nate's dad grabbed Chuck by his shoulders "What did you do to my son?!" He yelled full of fury into the older man's mans. Laura growled like an animal and launched herself onto the table scattering plates as she put herself between Nate's dad and her grandfather. She crouched in front of her grandfather protectively, a snarl on her lips...and two metal claws protruding from her fist.

Nate's mom immediately went into 'momma bear mode' and had pulled her son away from the table and placed herself between him and certain danger.

"Laura no!" James yelled at the same time Chuck grabbed Laura's fist pulling it down and muttering in what sounded like Spanish. Laura spit something out back in the same language, clearly unhappy but relenting to what ever her grandfather has said. Her claws slid back into her flesh disappearing from sight and leaving no more than some blood on her flawless skin.

"You're like him!" Nate exclaimed in surprise getting a sharp look from James who managed to some how look even more intimidating than before. James's mouth opened to say something at the same time Nate's dad tried to yell again for answers but no sounds emerged from either's mouths.

"Enough!" Chack said gently but with a strange force of will, a his hand still on his head and face pinched with pain. "Enough." He said more calmly. "We will get no where like this. Everyone is going to shut up while Nate explains...his outburst and then I will explain all that I can about us and what we can do." He looked around at each person seriously until he earned a nod of quiet assent from each.

Laura climbed down off the table and slid into her grandfather's lap maintaining a protective posture ready to move at a moment's notice. Chuck turned to James last calming meeting James's look of barely contained rage with a pointed look. "That includes you as well Logan." Jam--Logan and Chuck stared each other down in a battle of wills when Chuck's face softened and he pleaded in a soft voice, "You'll have to trust me." Logan was no match for that and his shoulders dropped in defeat in the face of his grandfather's plea.

Chuck turned to Nate and nodded encouragingly for him to start. Nate took a few calming breaths squeezing his mom's hand before he began.

"Okay, well, uh...right." He faltered unsure of where to even start. He scrunched his eyes up and decides to just blurt it all out.

"I--I think I traveled back in time." One, two, one two. Nate breathed eyes still closed unwilling to see his family's reaction to such a crazy statement. "Well, I mean...shit" One, two, one, two. Nate took another deep breath before he tried starting up again.

"I...I saw you." Nate opened his eyes and nodded at Chuck. "I saw you dead-dying on the bed. There was blood...so much blood." His voice cracked. "There was a man-he-he looked like James but, like a twin, a much younger twin..and...and he had metal claws--like Laura but more--three of them." He stammered out stopping another moment to catch his breath.

"They were covered in blood--your blood. There was a fight, half the room was trashed and Laura was lying on the ground. He looked at me..." Nate shuddered at the too fresh memory. "and his eyes...his eyes were so cold, and dead. It was terrifying, but I had my baseball bat--and I hit him." Nate said with force, his voice shook. "I hit him in the head as hard as I could..."

Nate turned to look at his mom his eyes filled with guilt. "I tried to kill him...I wanted to after seeing...." His mom clenched his hand painfully tight grounding him. "I tried but-but it was like nothin' to the...guy. He just took the hit like nothin'. He didn't fall, just turned his head." Nate bit his lip trying to hold it together to get it all out.

"His skin knitted up before my eyes and when he looked at me I knew he was going to kill me." Nate stopped to wipe away the tears he didn't realize he was shedding and sobbed into his mom's hair as she held onto him.

"But," He started again once he caught his breath. "But I didn't. I didn't die. Right as his claws were coming in the world went white and started to rewind." Nate risked a look around at everyone else and was met with disbelief from his dad, fear from Laura, horror from his mom, suspicion from Logan and sad understanding from Chuck.

"I watched the day go back in reverse thinking that was it. That I was dying and I was seeing my life flash before my eyes..." Nate's voice pitched with emotion. "But then it stopped at the end of dinner before the water got shut off and then time seemed to go back to normal." Nate just kind of let himself slip down onto the floor in exhaustion. His mom joined him and wrapped her arms around him holding on to him tightly. Her gentle rocking soothed him, making him feels warm and safe. He relaxed in her embrace and smiled when he felt his dad's solid presence standing against his side.

"Nate." Chuck began quietly. "I am a mutant." He looked to Will and Kathryn solemnly. "I am able to read minds and control them to a limited extent now due to my age." There was a sad tilt to the small smile on his lips. "These days I'm lucky if I could..calm your horses as it were." His joke fell flat but a small part of Nate was grateful for the attempt at levity.

"Logan and Laura are also mutants, like we are, but special in their own ways." He smiled down at Laura, somehow fondly and sadly at the same time. "We were on our way to safety when we chanced upon your family's misfortune and I elected us to help." He shrugged apologetically in Logan's direction.

"We are being hunter." He said seriously, "Hunted because of what we are." He looked deeply into Nate's eyes with a hint of hope sparkling. "Maybe it was...fate, or a higher power that brought us to you..." He paused for a moment, "A new mutant when we thought our kind going extinct."

'WHAT?!' Nate's mind screamed at him, 'How could I be a...be a mutant?! That's impossible.' He became lost in his thoughts as they went by a mile a minute in denial missing what ever outburst happened around him at the reveal.

The tale tale sound of the pipes shutting off pulled him out of it like a gunshot. He jumped to his feet.

"No! No! not again!" He yelled silencing the heated argument that had sprung up around him. Nate frantically pulled his mom up off the floor where she had stayed with him. "We have to go. NOW! Th--the man will be here soon!" His parents looked at him in shock and not moving, but Logan had already donned his coat and grabbed at Laura.

"Mom! Dad! You don't understand this really did happen before--just like this!" He yelled. Dad, you and Logan left to go deal with the pump and not 10-15 minutes later the man comes and starts killing-"

"We don't have time for this!" Logan growled out grabbing Chuck's wheel chair and steered it towards the door. "Laura! Come on we have to leave. Now!" Logan turned to Nate's dad. "I'm truly sorry to have brought this upon your family but you all need to leave now-they don't leave witnesses." His voice was filled with regret but he turned on his heel getting his family out the door.

"I...Just can't believe this.." His mom said in a daze, but his dad was a man of action and had already left to grab his shotgun.

"Neither can I, but we can't risk it." He said when he returned with the gun in arm. He pulled his wife into a tight embrace. "Let's go." Nate could hear the sound of the Howlett's truck start up and the crunch of the tires on the gravel as it pulled out of their drive way. The loud screech of metal cutting metal followed by a crunch chilled his blood.

'It's too late' Nate thought in horror backing away from the front door. His dad pushed past him all but shoving Nate and his mom backwards away from the door. He cocked his shotgun with a fierce look of determination and stepped out of the door into certain death before Nate could get his lungs working to even breathe.

Laura's screams and Logan's thunderous roar of rage broke the panic that had frozen Nate in place. 

"Nooooo!" He yelled out pulling his arm from his mom's grasp moving to the door. He opened the door to witness the ferocious battle being waged between Laura, Logan, and the man. The man swiped his claws faster than Nate thought could be possible into Logan's chest, blood sprayed with each swipe. Laura jumped on the man's back stabbing into him successfully stopping the assault on her father. 

The man roared and reached back grabbing Laura and threw her into the wrecked truck with a sickening crunch of bone vs metal. Logan was swaying dangerously on his feet covered in blood but he somehow still had fight in him. He smashed hard into the man's face with his own claws rending flesh revealing the man's metal skull for a moment before the skin began growing back.

BOOM! BOOM! Nate's dad unloaded two shots directly into the creature's face sending it flying to the ground with the force of impact. His dad's intervention bought enough time for Laura to amazingly recover from her injuries and she came running back to jump on it. The animalistic rage filled screams seized Nate's heart as she slashed over and over into it's chest. He could not imagine the life she had lived that forced such a young girl to turn feral and inflict violence with such ease.

Logan's ragged cough sent dark blood spraying out his lips. He wiped it off with the back of his hand with a grimace. Inhumanly, Logan strode over to where Laura lay atop the man slashing away. He pulled her back off the downed man and reared back to begin his assault anew. Nate felt hope begin to flood into his chest at the tide of battle turning in their favor. Maybe with the two of them and his dad they'd be able to put the monstrous killing machine down for good.

The RATATATATAT Of machine gun fire popped then Nate's hearing went out with a EEEEEEEE muting the world into Erie silence. His dad's mouth opened and twisted in a cry of agony that fell deaf to Nate's ears. His dad hit the ground blood quickly stained his grey shirt. Nate's vision tunneled to the sight of his dad on the ground riddled with bullet wounds. Nate dropped to the ground crawling on the ground towards where his dad lay. 

Nate's vision blurred with tears and time slowed to a crawl as he made his way over. He blinked back the tears clearing his vision to see his dad's open, lifeless eyes. A scream tore out his throat at the agony of his grief and regret before the world went white and stopped once again. Time reversed sending him back to the beginning of the fateful dinner this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should be one more chapter in this arc of timey wimey tomfoolery before getting into the meat of changing Logan so we can have a happier ending for The Munsons and our Mutant friends. :3


End file.
